What Does Joss Whedon’s Departure from Batgirl Mean for the DCEU and the Snyder Cut?

Following Thursday’s shocking news that alleged fake feministJoss Whedon will no longer write and direct a Batgirl movie sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, clickbait media, and fandom. Whedon’s ouster from the project which he pitched to Warner Bros. opens up dozens of important questions, such as: Who will make the movie now? Will it even go forward? What happened behind the scenes to cause this decision? Did the Russians interfere? But one question rises above the rest as most important of all: does this mean Warner Bros. will finally release the Snyder Cut of Justice League?

To understand how Whedon’s Batgirl departure fits into the quest to release a version of Justice League which restores Zack Snyder’s Vision, we must first recall how we got to this place. Last May, Zack Snyderstepped down as director of Justice League due to a personal family tragedy, and Whedon, the former director for rival Marvel Studios’ Avengers franchise, stepped in, purportedly to finish executing Zack Snyder’s Vision and complete the movie on his behalf. However, it was quickly revealed that Whedon had no intentions of staying true to Zack Snyder’s Vision. Instead, allegedly at the behest of Warner Bros., Whedon acted as an assassin, reportedly cutting 50 minutes of runtime from the Snyder Cut and replacing all of Snyder’s best shots with scenes of Cyborg saying “booyah.”

Eventually, Justice League was released to theaters, but the film was nothing like DCEU fans were led to expect, with Snyder’s Vision all but erased from existence. Critical reception to the movie was bad. The box office was worse, with the lowest opening in DCEU history despite the fact that it should have been the biggest. The movie failed so spectacularly that DC Films executive Jon Berg was forced to pay the ultimate price, while fellow executive Geoff “Jeff” Johns was stripped of influence. Meanwhile, Whedon was allowed to keep his Batgirl gig despite Justice League’sspectacular failure, bolstering claims that Whedon was acting on orders from Warner Bros when he slew Snyder’s Vision.

But while Warner Bros. sought to lay blame for the fiasco, it was DCEU fans who knew what would save the DCEU: the full restoration of Zack Snyder’s Vision in a Snyder Cut of Justice League. Not since God gave Moses the Ten Commandments has a vision been so pure and clear as that which Zack Snyder gifted the DCEU, where Superman snaps necks and makes out with Lois Lane in the rubble of Metropolis, where Jonathan Kent urges his son to let people die rather than risk exposing himself, and where everybody’s mother is named Martha.

DCEU fans have fought valiantly for this magnificent vision, doing everything from launching slick websites to organizing a historic march on Burbank to demand that Warner Bros. release the Snyder Cut. Despite their efforts, these noble fans have been ignored by Warner Bros., who poured salt in the wound by including two Superman deleted scenes on the Justice League home video release, reminding us of the potential of what might have been, had Zack Snyder’s Vision remained unsullied by Whedon’s meddling.

But now, in what can only possibly be considered karmic retribution for his sins against Snyder’s Vision, Whedon has been removed from his dream job on a Batgirl movie. Does this mean that Warner Bros. has realized their mistakes and is now in the process of purging the sickness that led them to defile a cinematic vision so strong, so pure, that the resulting corruption of their spirit led to a box office embarrassment with a movie that featured arguably the most recognizable superhero team in the history of the planet? More importantly, does this mean that Warner Bros. is preparing to do what they should have done in the first place and release the Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League?

We can’t see how it could possibly mean anything else.

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A prophecy says that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.

Scourge of Rich Johnston, maker of puns, and seeker of the Snyder Cut, Jude Terror, sadly, is not the hero comics needs right now... but he's the one the industry deserves.